Work has started on a £1.24m project to build six new homes on a brownfield site in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.
Housing provider Bromford – part of Bromford Flagship LiveWest (BFL) – has demolished 48 underused garages off Back Lane to make way for the new homes. They will all be let at social rent, the most affordable type of housing available.
The homes will each have two bedrooms, designed for up to four people, and will be allocated to families on the local housing register.
Quedgeley-based Aqua Construction is building the homes using timber frames. This is the firm’s first partnership with Bromford.
Nathaniel Davies, post contract manager at Bromford, said the development would take the name Abbey View.
He said: “It’s fantastic to be able to transform a brownfield site like this into beautiful new homes which will reinvigorate the area. Each home will represent a new chapter and a fresh start for the families who move into them.
“We’re delighted to be working with Aqua on this project, and I can’t wait to see the homes take shape.”
Jason Wasley, managing director at Aqua Construction, said: “We are repurposing brownfield land to create much-needed affordable homes. We’re proud to be delivering our first project with Bromford, marking the start of what we hope will be a long and successful partnership.
“By transforming a former garage site, we’re helping to regenerate the area with high-quality timber-framed homes that will provide modern, sustainable housing for local families. It’s rewarding to see underused land given a new purpose and communities strengthened through thoughtful development.”
The homes have been designed to fit in with their surroundings, and each will have a private garden, a shed and somewhere secure to lock a bike.
There will be 19 parking spaces: two per home and seven for visitors.
Abbey View is just across the road from the local primary school and the Abbey Fields Community Centre.
It is five minutes into the town centre, and the bus stops on the 656 and W1 routes into Cheltenham are 150 metres away.
Social rent is set by a national formula tied to local earnings rather than the market, which puts it well below what a private landlord would charge.
The project is being paid for through receipts from the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme, which is money that comes back to Bromford when a home is sold and goes straight into building replacements.
The homes should be ready to move into by spring 2027.
BFL is the UK’s largest provider of new affordable homes, with almost 300,000 customers across the southwest, central and east of England.